I have just completed the restoration of a running board mounted tire air pump and need to get some hose to complete the project. Anyone know where I might find some air hose that might look period correct? The original one had an inline gauge. While not necessary, a gauge would be nice as well. Thanks Tom

Don't know what size inside diameter you need, but when I rebuilt my hand pump, I used VW bug fuel line- fit, looks and works great. The inside diameter is about 4mm, I think, but it went on the 1/4" fitting just fine.

I lost 2 Beetles because that line is used from the frame-mounted fuel line to the engine-mounted fuel pump. Both ends are pushed on to metal lines with fat places, and eventually the vibration it is there to absorb allows one end or the other to slip off. Raw fuel on a hot engine --- POOF!!

If you can find clamping rings like those shown in the pictures above, you'll be OK. If VW had used them, my wife would still be driving a Beetle.

On the Porsche 914, there was a recall to add clamps. It would have been ok with carbs, but these cars had 30+ psi EFI pumps.

A late neighbor invented the battery charger automatic circuitry used by Schauer with great success. In about 1975, he was called as an expert witness for them. They were being sued for one of their chargers that was hooked to a 914, allegedly starting a fire that burned up a mechanic garage and all its cars. He studied the pix from the fire dept investigator, and noted a clamp on the ground below the fuel hose. If the hose had been clamped onto the metal line, the clamp would still have been on the line after the fire.

Lots of the old fabric covered hoses, especially for the barbed fitting type used brass ferrules similar to oxy acetylene fittings. They need to be swaged or crimped in a split die that could be easily home made. Drill an appropriate size hole in some square steel stock, cut in half and squeeze in a vise.

Jay, I have a few that are missing the little piece inside that presses the valve core down. I have about eight to ten tire pumps that I want to restore (? there is that word?), and not one of them has a connector that works. I am not picky enough to need Ford script pumps in my cars. However I want to get a proper vintage pump into each of my cars. And I have a couple special pumps (two and three stage) that I would like to have working just for themselves. (Have you ever tried to use a three stage hand pump?) Yes, those are what I am looking for. I have looked around on-line, but my search skills are limited. A previous thread on the subject provided a few links which I checked, but also did not find those. It was just a few years ago that they were still readily available new. I am surprised I haven't been able to find a good source. (You best be careful, we don't want to start a run on the bank!) Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Well, I got the picture to down load but not the message. Handle folds down to make a nice unit sitting on the running board. Not bad for a $10 junk store find. Now I have to get the air hose and air chuck to see how it works.

I know Tom's picture is of an air pump for tires but that photo reminds me of the first car to have hydraulic brakes. Or one of the first. It had a pump like that on the left running board and the driver would pump up pressure to a reserve tank that would be enough to stop the car several times with air over hydraulic. The brake pedal opened a valve to allow pressure to get to the brakes. Seems to have not lasted long.

Tom, if you can't get the hose you want in the size you want with the cloth covering you want, perhaps you could just run with hose that fits and cover it with some cloth wiring harness/spaghetti. Y and Z's have it in various sizes, so you should be able to get something near.